To Claim A Kunoichi
by Iroka
Summary: Sasuke is finally ready to revive his clan, he just needs to find the right girl. By chance he comes across the strong and feisty Temari, he's convinced her genes will do well. Now all he has to do is pry her away from Shikamaru and convince her! OOC Sasu
1. Who To Claim?

**To Claim a Kunoichi**

**Chapter 1: Who To Claim?**

**Sasuke x Temari**

**Description: Sasuke knows now is the time to revive his clan, he just needs to find the right person. By chance one day he comes across the strong and feisty Temari, he believes her genes will do well. Now all he has to do is pry her away from Shikamaru and convince her!**

**Pairings: SasuTema, ShikaTema, SasuSaku**

**Warning: **

**Sasuke slightly OOC. Think of pre-rogue Sasuke. I can't really have a romance of current crazy Sasuke or he'd just stab the girl and walk away…**

**Short chapters. I like the 10k type chapters but I think this one will be much shorter. But I think the chapters are gonna get longer and longer as we go. Maybe…**

* * *

_Becoming a cloud,_

_Becoming rain,_

_Missing love._

* * *

"You're a grown man now Sasuke, I thought you would have been married and reviving your clan by now." Tsunade said simply, wrapping a bandage around his arm.

Sasuke said nothing in response as Tsunade continued. "You recklessly go on these dangerous missions while putting the inevitable off."

"I'm working on it," Sasuke scoffed. He had no intention on discussing this with Granny.

"You're a mature man now and Sakura is-

"Thanks for your help." He interrupted. He broke off the edge of the bandage and attached the loose end to his arm in one swift motion. Tsunade gave one hard blink, even she was surprised at how fast he was. His time with Orochimaru really made his movements fluid like a snake.

She only watched him leave and sigh. When would he find out that no one could love him more than his teammate? Why _not _also make her the mother of your children? Of course she was biased in Sakura's favor, considering she was like a daughter to her and only wanted her successor's happiness, even if it was with the brooding and bratty Uchiha. She knew Sakura could take care of him and guide the new Uchiha clan in the right direction. But what could she do, she can't force the blockhead to see what was in front of him.

Sasuke rushed out the front entrance and sighed. Every time he was injured on a mission he dreaded seeing Tsunade's face. She always made special trips just to "heal" him herself. Oh and not to mention have a talk about taking his relationship to the next level with her prized student. Blah. He had no interest in Sakura anymore than a cherished teammate and friend. He had no idea if Sakura still had a silly crush on him and he didn't care. She wasn't suitable for him. Not quite what he had in mind as a gene donor to his new clan. When others asked for specifics on why she wasn't suiting, he never answered. He wasn't quite sure but that's how he had felt since day one.

One thing Tsunade did do for him (aside from heal up his wounds) was make him think hard on this. Who _was _he going to pick to bear his children? More or less _when_? He knew the first thing he had to do was pick the girl then let the rest happen. The life of a shinobi can be short and nearing 20s was almost a veteran in this dangerous world. He knew he had to stop putting this daunting issue on the back-burner and find a girl. Soon.

With his left arm bandaged he had some free time for it to heal, a great time to look for a potential child-bearer-to-be.

He walked a familiar path through Konoha's busy streets, he knew the person he had to talk to about this.

As he took casual steps to his destination he noticed something he never did before. His fan girls. His whole life he had blocked them out of his vision, only focusing on one goal, to kill Itachi. That had been over and done with for quite some time. Yet he forgot to uphold to his second goal, revive his clan. Now that there was no Itachi to focus on, maybe he could actually see what they had to offer?

He was never honest about his emotions but he felt the pang of embarrassment and frustration at even thinking of considering such loud, obnoxious women. But he has no idea where to start besides the most obvious.

Gazing at the admiring glances, he realized he had no idea who any of these girls were. He then realized just how well he had focused on killing his brother. He had never seen a single one before.

'_**Too fat. Too short. Too skinny. Not pretty. Too manly.' **_

Sasuke was taken aback. These girls were not suiting in appearance. No wonder he had never noticed them. Most of them looked like village girls, not kunoichi. While there were plenty advantages to having a sweet, homemaker type wife who knew only the battles of the rice patty, he was too afraid of his heirs coming out weak.

He was more taken aback at the fact he could analyze a female's looks just as fast as a battle plan. He had spent years practicing battle plans, but nothing prepared him for this moment.

Putting his hands in his pocket he gazed at the last fan girl in the chain. This one was actually cute. Light brown hair, rosy cheeks, bright blue doe eyes. She peaked his interest more than any others.

"What's your name?" he asked coolly.

She looked in all directions, unable to comprehend after all this time Sasuke Uchiha was looking right at her and speaking. "M-M-M-Mizuki Momichi!" she stuttered nervously, twirling her locks around her finger.

"And how long have you been stalking me?" he asked in the same ice tone.

That was a loaded question to her, but she'd answer anything Sasuke asked. "11 years, one month, four days and…let me count the seconds!" she glanced at her watch.

Sasuke sighed, _**'Too creepy.' **_He knew right then and there he needed to find a strong kunoichi that had better things to do than stalk him his whole life. That knocked out a great number of female ninjas, but he needed to start somewhere.

'_**Let's see…who is strong but hasn't stalked me my whole life.' **_Sasuke thought continuing his walk, not forgetting the goal in mind. _**'There's that Hyuuga, but she's in love with Naruto. There's Tenten, but she stalks Neji…' **_He stopped pondering and walked into the ramen stand, he knew his best friend Naruto would be here to assist him in this. Despite the fact he had no experience in this, he needed a different mindset for some feedback.

"Yo, Naruto." Sasuke called out to his friend who was stuffing his face with ramen, obviously.

Naruto swallowed his mouth full and called back. "Hey Sasuke, are we going on a mission?" Usually when Sasuke sought out his friend, it wasn't to do typical best friend things and just hang, it was for sparring or a mission.

"No, got my arm sprained, I'll be out for awhile." Sasuke pointed to his left arm and took his seat beside Naruto.

"That Mist ninja got you good, tell me all about it!" Naruto smirked to his friend excited, thinking Sasuke was there to share war stories.

"That's not why I came," was all Sasuke said, taking a sip of green tea handed to him by Ayame.

"You're not here for business? What's up?" Naruto seemed intrigued at Sasuke's odd behavior but was not concerned enough to stop stuffing his face with the ramen at the same time.

"I've been thinking lately,"

"Yeah, about what?" Naruto asked impatient.

Sasuke sighed, he gave up wondering why Naruto was so impatient about everything.

"Marriage,"

Naruto coughed in his ramen bowl. "Wow Sasuke, I had no idea you were dating someone!" Naruto nudged his friend.

"I haven't, but Tsunade's words… are getting to me, I need to find someone who can help me carry on my clan."

Naruto had a bright moment and only nodded. Recalling when he first met his teammate he had made it clear his goals in life were to kill "a certain someone" and to carry on his clan.

"I know she tells me this hoping I'll be with Sakura, but I have no intentions on ever crossing that line with her."

Naruto nodded again understanding. Actually he had a hard time understanding who _wouldn't _like the beautiful, smart, talented _Sakura-chan_, but he knew very well Sasuke had never seen her in this light. At least now he turned her down by saying she was a teammate instead of his previous harsh reasons.

"Sooo, who do you have in mind?" Naruto peered finishing up his ramen.

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. "No idea,"

"Oh I see it all very clear now!" Naruto laughed, wrapping his arm around Sasuke's neck, earning him an angry glance from the Uchiha. "You came to yer old best buddy in hopes of me being a matchmaker!"

"Yeah right, dobe." Sasuke threw Naruto off of him.

There was a long silence for a moment as Naruto stared at Sasuke.

"…why do you have anyone in mind?" Sasuke glanced at the dumb blond from the corner of his eyes.

Naruto grinned in victory and Sasuke sighed.

"There are plenty of girls, Sasuke, come with me!" Naruto grabbed his buddy and headed out of the stand.

Sasuke sighed half way regretting this.

"So tell me my pal, what kind of girl do you have in mind? Short? Tall? Blonde? Dark? Traveling the world with Pervy-sage, I can name a beauty in any corner of this earth!" Naruto boasted in sheer falsehood.

"A strong Kunoichi who doesn't have a ridiculous hair color and has never stalked me."

Naruto stopped and darkness surrounded him.

Sasuke threw him a curious glance.

"Why do you have to be so picky?" Naruto sighed, this wasn't as easy as he thought.

Sasuke sighed again, this was going to be as tough as he thought.

"Hinata has never stalked you." Naruto threw out the idea.

"No, she's interested in somebody else." Sasuke gave a half smirk, when will he realize the obvious?

"Tenten has never stalked you,"

"Only because she's too busy stalking that Hyuuga."

"Well, Kurenai is single!" Naruto grinned.

"A single _mom_!" Sasuke could have punched Naruto for that one.

"Okay, I'm stumped. I guess you were right to be confused." Naruto quizzed. "But why don't you look back to some girls even if they stalked you? Ino doesn't stalk you anymore…much."

Sasuke thought on this for a moment. She was attractive, strong and worked with Anbu using her kekkei genkai. But he couldn't risk being with someone from another clan that has special abilities. His children could come without pupils and reading minds instead of red spinning sharingan. "No, she's not right."

"Well, my suggestion to you is to look outside of the village, I think it's your best bet." Naruto concluded in defeat. What he wouldn't give to be in the same dilemma as him. Having trouble picking the right girl for you because so many _admired _you. Naruto had more male admirers for his fighting, but no ladies were takers on him for looks, it seemed.

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Sasuke said finally.

It was such a good idea Sasuke thought how on earth he could find a foreign girl while he was stuck in the Leaf Village. He was pondering on it so much he couldn't stop in time as Naruto called for him to watch where he was thinking.

"Oof!" two people called out going in opposite directions.

"What the hell?" a harsh female voice called out.

"Way to go, you bumped into the Great Uchiha." a lazy male voice sighed.

Sasuke looked in front of him to see he had bumped into Sabaku No Temari of the Sand. Both blinked and stared at each other in silence.

"I'll blame that clumsiness on your wounded arm." Temari grunted getting up, it was obvious she was walking away from this accident with a hurt bum.

Sasuke stayed planted on the ground looking at her. _**'Strong, foreign Kunoichi, good looks, feisty attitude…'**_

"Oh man, look what you did now, Temari." Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome woman."

"You're not really hurt are you?" Temari held her hand out to Sasuke who was still staring blankly on the ground.

Accepting her help he stood up and came face-to-face with her. Well more like his nose to her eyes. _**'She's not too short or too tall…' **_If he recalled right she fought in the Chunin Exams and held her own with him very well when he was chasing after Gaara.

"What clan are you from?" Sasuke finally broke the silence. That earned suspicious stares from Temari, Naruto and especially Shikamaru.

"What, you gonna report me?" Temari challenged.

Sasuke only gave a slight smirk, "No, just curious where you got your fighting techniques from…"

The three confused shinobi carefully watched Sasuke.

"I got it from myself adapting to the desert weather, no clan fed it to me with a silver spoon." Temari smirked, excited such a powerful person was taking interest in her fighting.

"I see…" was his only reply, sticking his hands in his pocket and walking away with a surprised Naruto following behind.

Temari and Shikamaru watched as the two shinobi walked away.

"I don't like the look of that Uchiha." Shikamaru sighed.

"Come on Shikamaru, he's just curious of my awesome strength!" Temari gave her cocky grin.

"Yeah, right." he sighed just wanting to nap…

* * *

"Hey Sasuke, what was that about?" Naruto walked beside his friend, asking now that they were out of ear-shot.

"None of your business," Sasuke turned his gaze from Naruto.

"You're not thinking what I think you're thinking are you?" Naruto glared at his friend cautiously.

"And what if I am?" Sasuke scratched his chin in fake ponder.

"What are you thinking? Don't you know Shikamaru has claims on her?"

"So?"

"Oh so it's okay to back away from girls like Hinata and Tenten if guys have claims on them, but Temari isn't?"

"She's a different case."

"And what case is that?" Naruto clenched his teeth not liking where this was going.

"I think I want her."

* * *

_**A/N: Well, here it is. My TemaSasu saga. I love fics that revolve around Temari and Ino because I think there are too many Hinata and Sakura pairings out there. So, that's why I chose Temari! I apologize for Sasuke's OOC-ness. I'll try to keep him as dark and brooding as possible….**_

_**Feel free to critique this to death! This is an old story of mine that I'm trying to fix… Even though it's out-dated I'd appreciate any critique you have.**_


	2. Interesting Claim

Chapter 2: Interesting Claim

* * *

_Glory days don't mean shit to me, I drank a six pack of apathy. _

_Life's a bitch and so am I. _

_The world owes me, so fuck you..._

* * *

"Just because you think you want her doesn't mean shit!" Naruto made an X with his arms. "Her and Shikamaru have had a thing for years."

"If they really 'had a thing' wouldn't they have gotten together by now?" Sasuke questioned not actually interested in Naruto's answer.

"It's none of my business, I don't know!"

"This issue is none of your business either, I suggest you stay out of it." Sasuke flicked Naruto's forehead and walked off, he didn't feel like dealing with his moral speeches. And incase Naruto couldn't tell, his speeches never worked on him. It would take someone better than him to convince him otherwise.

Besides, it's not like he's made it official, she's just on the top of his list of girls that have caught his interest. Okay, she was the only girl at the moment. But Sasuke was never a machine gun type man, going for several girls at once and hoping one responds, if he wanted a girl chances are she wanted him and that was that. Temari was maybe feisty but he knew he could have her if _he _decided she was worthy. What woman wouldn't want the chance to be with him? He knew that sounded conceited, but he faced the facts a long time ago. He was a catch.

"Now, how to further find out if she's worthy…" Sasuke pondered aloud walking along the streets.

Coming up with a great idea worthy of Sasuke's greatness he decided to take the plan into action. People showed their worthiness as shinobi when in battle. He would get to see how she handled defeat, meaning, it's obvious Sasuke was going to win. But he wanted to see how gracefully she accepted defeat. It had been since the Chunin Exams he even saw her fight. While it was impressive then he wanted to see how she had grown.

* * *

"I bet he wants to fight me!" Temari couldn't help but give a school girl giggle with some sinister nature mixed in there.

"What kind of woman gets excited that some self-entitled brat wants to fight her? Geez…"

"Oh please Shikamaru, I've been looking for a challenge lately, this could be great."

"You'll get your suntanned ass handed to you." Shikamaru sighed, earning him a slap upside the head from her.

"I know he's way stronger but that's why I wanna fight him!"

"Yeah well, have fun on your spar date later, but for now you're here for a reason." Shikamaru threw heavy stacks of papers on her lap.

"You gotta be kidding me." Temari sighed. Being an ambassador was too troublesome.

"If you finish that up I'll take you on a date later." Shikamaru smiled walking out leaving a almost blushing Temari.

"Stupid Shikamaru," she sighed, reflecting how after all these years nothing more has happened with them except dates here and there. When was that lazy bastard going to take it to the next level? Temari was an extroverted girl but she be damned if she were the one to do it.

After an hour's worth of paper work Temari was becoming agitated and ready to stretch her muscles. "That outta be enough for now, I think I can go relax some." Temari opened up her little office door that was assigned to her when she was in Konoha. To her surprise a tall, dark and handsome Uchiha was standing there about to open the door.

"Well the very person I was looking for," he smirked.

"S-Sasuke Uchiha?" Temari questioned.

"Never thought you were the type for stuttering, do I make you nervous?"

"I didn't expect to open a door and see your face is all." Temari shoved past him, how dare he tease her?

"Are you free?" Sasuke asked causing her to stop and turn around.

"Depends," she now smirked "what do you have in mind?"

"A little spar?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I never thought you'd ask." She smiled.

* * *

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you." Sasuke called from across the field. "I'm even giving you the upper hand with this advantage."

Temari scoped the field, he was right. She could easily start off with her long-distance attacks. "I don't need any charity Uchiha, I'm a big girl. Besides, you have an injured arm, are you sure you're up to this?"

Sasuke only smirked and readied himself, cuing her to start.

She only shook her head, they both knew Sasuke was the stronger one but giving her all sorts of advantages on purpose was going to be his down fall, he was way too cocky.

"I don't even have to open my fan yet!" Temari called jumping in the air.

Sasuke looked up and jumped as well, so she wanted to start off with close combat? Jumping above her within striking distance Temari lashed her closed fan at him hitting down the middle.

"Damn, shadow clone."

Temari felt a kick in her back. Instead of going flying she dissolved into a pile of sand flying everywhere in Sasuke's eyes. Her own version of a shadow clone in place, except this was more dangerous than the Leaf's technique.

"As suspected," Sasuke smiled wiping the sand out of his eyes.

"Don't underestimate the strongest Kunoichi in the Sand Village!" Temari called from a tree above him.

'_**Strongest, eh? Well that's even more intriguing.'**_ Sasuke smiled.

"Since you're the strongest, I guess it isn't too hasty for me to bring this out!" He said activating his sharingan.

Temari winced for a second fearing the legendary eyes but turned into a smile. "Those eyes can't protect you from this!" Temari opened her fan in full throttle, exposing all her moons and swung causing gusts of tornadoes to go at Sasuke.

The gushes of wind were stronger, stronger than he expected. He had no doubt her chakra nature was wind. A rare nature but most common amongst Suna shinobi. With his sharingan the chakra within each little storm came towards him in slow motion. It really was sad how advanced his sharing an was to her techniques.

There were three in front of him, coming at him like a tsunami wave. He slid between two, feeling the intense wind make him sick to his stomach, but hardly enough to even make him wince. The third spun towards him carrying an even bigger punch than the first two.

"You know what's a weakness against wind?" He asked rhetorically, she knew the answer. "Fire." He deadpanned. Not hesitating for a second he made the signal for fire and unleashed his Giant Fireball Jutsu at the third tornado. He jumped up in the air allowing it to collide with the fourth surprise one she had unleashed.

Temari scowled, he really was strong. Not that she doubted that for a second. Last time she saw him fight he taking on her and her brothers at the Kage Summit. He had changed a lot for the better since then but she still remembered that heartless man she fought before.

The giant wind storm turned into an even larger fire ball and danced spinning off away from both of them.

There went one of her better surprise attacks. She came to the realization that her wind nature was useless

against his fire. Then there was her earth style that was useless against his lighting. She was tempted to

swear allowed but decided to try and come up with a new plan.

Giving him a surprise attack with her fan was her best shot. Her natures were useless and his eyes allowed him to see everything in slow motion. She cursed that stupid sharingan, she would learn how to defeat head on one day.

His cold gaze became impatient at her stalling. He disappeared into the trees. Her footing became tighter on the tree branch she stood on. Her desert style grip unbreakable. They were more than use to getting swept away by a gush of desert wind. They had become masters in standing their ground.

The trees around her went eerily silent. Even the birds and furry creatures seemed to stand still at the anticipation. Her ears went numb to everything except the sound of possible attacks. She wished she would have picked up some minor sensing abilities like Kankuro.

"Guess I have no other choice," the smirk never left her face as she bit her thumb.

Sasuke watched in hiding, his sharingan dull and not at its peak but he could tell without his kekkei genkai what she was doing. There was no doubt in his abilities to dodge such a weak summon but he knew it'd wiser to evacuate the trees.

She inhaled the smell of cut wood. Something she didn't get often in Suna. It probably gave her sick enjoyment to watch her trusty companion cut down all this wooden habitat. Secretly she wished she lived in a grassier area. The Suna Princess felt no guilt in cheating others out of the opportunity to enjoy their beauty.

Her trusty weasel summon cut all the trees within sight giving him nowhere to hide. But where was he? She turned in every direction fast, almost wishing she had a sharingan so she could see the same things he saw.

"Not above," she looked up "not behind," she turned her head, "and not in front. So that only leaves…"

"_Below you_." she heard. It happened much too sudden for her to grasp. She had underestimated how powerful he truly was. He struck like a snake. If he had venom laced in his body, she'd be a goner.

It struck her like a boly of lightning but her instincts kicked in. She allowed herself to fall back and off the tree branch, but her feet never left the hold on the branch. The feet in her chakra became visible and she swung upside down on the branch. All in a matter of a second. She didn't give the Uchiha time to react, she swung around the branch with her attached feet and came up behind him. Letting out her cry she swung her closed fan at him.

"hn," she heard as the metal on her fan collided with other metal.

"That's right… you can use… a sword now." She laughed through her struggle.

The two were at a dead lock, blade against blade. Who could maneuver around the other and get a hit in?

"Your fan is stronger than I thought, I guessed it would have broke by now."

"She will never break." She seethed releasing her pressure on his sword. There was no way she could beat him in a wrestle of brute strength. Men carried more upper body strength.

She swung her fan back and aimed it at him again. He easily dodged it with his sword. Angrily she swung it at him like it were her own sword. Metal on metal clashed, making a loud clanging sound that could be heard through out the wasteland of a training field now.

Back flipping off the tree, she gracefully landed on her feet and made no haste in swinging another wind attack at him. Of course he easily dodged but a centimeter's worth hit him and ripped at the right side of his shirt. She had hit him that much and it was a start.

He seemed unphased as his cold look stared what seemed right through her. Those sharingan eyes looked like they could pierce your soul. Unfortunately they were capable of much, much worse. She winced in ager realizing before that he probably got so close to her from those eyes. She was most likely in his genjutsu and never even knew it. She could very well be in one right now and have no idea.

"You fear my eyes, don't you." He stated to her. It didn't even sound like a question.

She grimaced, who didn't fear them. But she wasn't about to admit that. "Stop talking and come face me, pretty boy."

He gave a 'hn' as he smirked and looked down. He really wasn't taking this match seriously.

"I said come down and face me!" She yelled, more like a demanding child than a woman.

He looked back up, staring at her emotionless, without a care. Those eyes began to make her blood boil, they looked as though they were taunting her. It drove her to insanity.

His three tomoe spun and her body felt as though it was struck with lighting. She couldn't even muster up the thoughts to say it to herself, but she knew what had happened. Genjutsu. The air felt heavier, there. Wherever she was. She never knew how to describe genjutsu, it was beyond this world's grasp. Temari's breath became heavy. Her world faded to saturated colors, then to invert all in seconds. This reality he had placed her, looked like a place very bad men went into the afterlife.

Her toes curled and a beat of sweat dropped from her forehead. She watched it fall to the ground in what seemed like eternity. She knew in this dimension he had the ability to control everything, even time. She felt her body melting as his gaze met hers in this world. He popped into existence there, the god of this dimension.

"You kept staring at my sharingan defiantly," he said approaching her.

This feeling of being totally helpless, looking at the man that now controlled her every atom. It was a feeling she didn't like. Being controlled by anything, especially men was unacceptable. "I'm not afraid of your sharing an," She seethed at him confidently.

"I control everything here, even your thoughts." he replied knowingly.

So he knew she was at her weakest, so what. She stared at him a few long moments and he at her. She began to feel her insides twitch. When she said she wanted a spar, she never imagined he'd go this far. Who was she kidding, he's a total lunatic. He's probably gonna put her in tsukiyomi and torture her. She heard the stories of what the sharingan could do. And now she realized that she was fucked.

"Remember that part about reading even your thoughts?" He gave an almost sinister laugh.

She looked away, insulted at how humiliating this all was.

Before she knew it the hues turned back to normal and the world was right once again. It went from an eerie silence that she had never experienced back to the sound of disturbed animals that their homes were gone. In a flash her world went from being at his whim back a place she had a fair shot.

Her lungs begged for normal breaths and gasped for air. The weight in her knees buckled and all of a sudden she forgot how to even hold herself up. Her weight gave below her like a poorly built structure and she felt hands catch her. Before she could go tumbling down, someone held her up. The hands -that were appropriately placed on her lower back and one holding her arm- were pale and callused.

She blinked a few questionable glances at him and mustered out "Thanks?"

"No problem," he said lifting her up and allowing her to stand on her own.

"Guess you _are _the strongest Kunoichi from the Sand Village."

Temari contorted her face. "Please, I didn't even land a hit on you."

"Not many people can do that." he replied simply.

'_**Who the hell does this Uchiha think he is?' **_her face puffed up. "Not many of us have freaky red eyes either." she lashed at him, still offended at that genjutsu.

Expecting to tick him off with that she was surprised he only smiled. "That's true. My eyes give me most of my power."

Temari angrily nodded in agreement. "Without 'em I could totally kick your ass."

This caused his light smile to turn into a smirk. "You're awfully feisty, you don't know when to give up."

"It's part of my charm." she smiled in fake hospitality.

He stared at her with his sharingan off earning an odd glance from her. "Are you gonna stare at my pretty face all day or are ya gonna fight me without those bloodshot eyes?" she taunted.

Sasuke tilted his head down in amusement, "I have no urge to fight you anymore, I got all I want."

"Well, I didn't." Temari said using the small space between them to use her fan to jab him in the stomach. She was half way surprised he didn't dodge it. She was also surprised he didn't even wince at the blow.

Before things got any more intense she decided it was time for her to take her leave. What would the hokage say if the Suna ambassador was beating up on their precious lone Uchiha. "See ya around, Uchiha." Her tan lips smirked at him as his black eyes gazed at her with a hint of shock. She walked away from the scene of the crime in her typical bad girl fashion. That hit to the gut was all she needed to regain her pride.

"I don't even know what to think of this woman, all I know is I want to find out even more now." Sasuke smirked rubbing the dirt off of his white shirt. "Sabaku No Temari."

* * *

_**A/N: How was the fight scene? If you're rereading this I hope it eclipses the first one I wrote. The first one was only 1.7k words with the new one being 3k words. I'm trying really hard on my fight scenes. I hope it was passable. Please feel free to let me know how I did. Critique is always welcomed! Especially with my fight scenes.**_


	3. Planting Seeds

Chapter 3: Planting Seeds

(And no, not what you think, perv! Hahaha!)

_**A/N: Thanks for so much support! Four reviews in one day and several emails of people alerting and even favoriting it! Thanks so much guys you are wonderful.**_

* * *

_I close my eyes picturing your face up above,_  
_Some call it obsession, I call it love._

* * *

"Well, I see you had fun." Shikamaru smiled lazily at Temari who was leaving the forest. "Don't you know how to fight without destroying a whole habitat in the process?"

Temari only smirked. "If I had known I had an audience I would have-

"Had a little more pride?" He raised an eyebrow.

"That hit to the gut was legit." Temari dusted the dirt off of her fishnets and dress.

"I don't know about legit but that sure was fun to watch." The lazy genius smiled. "Now how about that date?"

Temari smiled with a slight blush. "Only if you pay."

"After seeing that I can't deny." He sighed and walked beside the feisty woman. It was becoming obvious Shikamaru still had a dislike for a certain Uchiha.

* * *

"Well, I see you had fun." Naruto stood there with his arms crossed staring at the Uchiha heir.

Sasuke still held his smirk from the battle with Temari. "Yeah, lots."

"Thought you had an injured arm that prevented you from doing missions."

"Well it isn't preventing me from getting some info I need." Sasuke dusted the dirt off of his clothes.

Naruto scowled in disappointment.

"What are you, my girlfriend? Get out of here." Sasuke walked past Naruto.

"What info did you get?" Naruto asked walking beside his friend.

"A good amount." He said simply.

"And what is that?"

"She peaks my interest all the more."

"Yeah, how?"

"When we fought, there was no…tension."

"Tension?" his blonde friend asked confused.

"When we made contact, she didn't blush, didn't even think twice about it, she was just in it to fight."

"So she peaks your interest because she's not interested in you in that way?" He squinted his eyes, genuinely confused.

Sasuke only gave a 'hn'. Whether that was a yes 'hn' or no 'hn' Naruto wasn't sure, they both sounded the same.

"That makes no sense." Naruto nodded to himself sarcastically. "I'm telling you, Shikamaru has claims on her."

"Oh yeah?" Sasuke replied not interested.

"I saw him walking with her just now, they're going on a _date_."

"Oh really?" Sasuke peered, Naruto had caught his interest now.

"Of course, they're _together_." Naruto emphasized.

Nothing stopped Sasuke Uchiha from getting what he wanted. His ties to people didn't stop him from gaining power and some lazy genius wasn't about to stop him from gaining strong heirs.

"Don't even think of going and disturbing it either!" Naruto made that boundary clear with his friend.

"I'm not," Sasuke deadpanned simply and he was telling the truth. He's not the type to be intrusive. If she wanted to go on a date that was fine, it's not like he claimed her yet. He was still testing her. But the moment he decided to, _if _he did, then that'd have to be put to a stop. Until then, she's an independent woman that can do as she pleases. Sasuke _did _admire that independence of hers.

* * *

"So you saw the fight, what'd you think?" Temari smiled at Shikamaru as they took their seat in the restaurant.

"Yeah, typical fighting on your part." he yawned. "But that Uchiha seemed to be holding back so much."

"No way!" Temari replied quickly in disbelief. Subconsciously she knew that was true but had been afraid to acknowledge it.

"Temari you're a strong girl but face it, he trained with the strongest rogue ninja of our lifetime… He has undeniable power."

She said nothing, only staring back at him. He had a point she had to publicly recognize…

"It looked more like he was interested in something else."

"And what would that be?" Temari raised an eyebrow, she wasn't following.

"I'm not entirely sure but I don't like the looks of it. Stay away from him, okay Temari?" He slightly tocuhed her hand from across the table, he was serious. For once.

A blush almost crept on her face but she managed to keep it down. "Yeahwhatevershikamaru…" She mumbled diverting her gaze from him.

If Sasuke wanted something from her, he better make it known now, that was if in theory Shikamaru was right. What on earth would he want with her? She was just some random Sand Nin, what use was she to him?

The two spent their date discussing other things not going back to the conversation of Sasuke. Mostly related to her work and exactly why the Suna ambassador had been called there.

* * *

After their date, Shikamaru did the typical routine he always had done with her, accompanied her to her destination. One thing she did admire about a chauvinist such as himself. Whether it was to the guest house she was staying in or to the Konoha gates, he always made sure she got there okay. She pretended to hate it and complained non-stop, but really it was one quality about him she loved.

But like everything in his life, he had a routine. And kissing her goodnight was not in it.

'_**Typical him, not kissing me goodnight.' **_Temari sighed watching him go. She wasn't even ready to go inside yet, the date ended way too soon.

"Upset he didn't give you a kiss goodnight?" A dark figure asked leaning on a tree.

Temari looked over to him shocked, she didn't even sense him there. "What is it, Uchiha? Didn't get good enough of a hit earlier?" She smirked outwardly. But really she felt uneasy that he was here once again. What did he want this time?

"Never let your enemy catch you off guard." Sasuke replied.

"If only you remembered that before."

He only gave a smirk back. "Turning in so early?"

"I guess so, I have paper work to do tomorrow."

Sasuke said nothing, only looking at her.

"Why, you wanna spar again?" She asked breaking the tense silence.

"Not now, I have to admit I drained a good amount of chakra using the sharingan… plus this wounded arm."

"I knew even you couldn't handle it with that arm." She huffed, flipping her hair.

Sasuke only looked down smirking. He looked really cute when he did that, she had to admit. But it also taunted her short nerves.

"So spit it out, what is it you want then?" Temari was starting to suspect maybe Shikamaru was right that he wasn't really interested in her awesome power.

"I think you owe me after that hit to the stomach."

"Are you asking me on…" Temari gave him a suspicious glance.

"A date?" Sasuke finished her sentence.

Temari nodded unsurely.

"No."

Temari could have face palmed. "Oh…Well that's good, 'cause I would have said no." She tried to regain her dignity.

"I just wanted to walk and talk, you know have some intelligent company." He gave a false shrug.

Temari was shocked, she had no idea how to reply. She only nodded cautiously and walked alongside with him, ignoring Shikamaru's warnings. How did one reply when the infamous Uchiha wanted to be their friend all of a sudden?

"Your fighting, it's good." Sasuke said breaking the silence after a few minutes of walking with the blonde.

The Konoha sun disappeared and the slight chill nipped at Temari's bare skin, but she didn't mind at all. Considering the temperature in Suna got to below zero at night, a nip at her skin was welcomed. The short walk found them on a small trail that was graced with trees on each side. Every corner in Konoha was placed with trees in her eyes.

"Flattery will get you nowhere." She said looking in the opposite direction with her arms folded.

"I never flatter, I only state what is what." he stared ahead.

Temari turned her head to look at him. She had no idea what this raven-haired boy was getting at.

"Okay Uchiha, spit it out, something is up."

He diverted his gaze casually. "And what do you speculate I'm up to?"

"We've never even been acquaintances and all the sudden you can't seem to get enough of me."

He hid a smirk from her, she really was straightforward. "Can't a guy make new friends?"

She gave a quick, dry laugh. "I'm maybe no genius but I'm not stupid."

"Well it doesn't take a genius to make an educated guess."

Temari was confused, should she be angry he's being so vague or worried? "Well, _friend_, I don't hang around people that can't tell me what's up, I hate the secretive type." She stopped walking and stood her ground.

Sasuke turned and saw her standing there with a stern look on her face and her hands on her hips. What did she think, that was intimidating?

"Tell me or I turn around and we never speak again." she said staring him down.

Oh she thought she was so bad!

"Five seconds." She threatened.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Five."

He smirked.

"Four."

He pretended to gaze at his nails.

"Three."

This wasn't going to work on him.

"Two."

He looked up at her, daring to say one.

"One."

She still didn't move. Oh she was going to count to zero?

"Zero. I'm out!" She turned around to leave and bumped into Sasuke now standing up close to her. Typical abuse of ninja skills.

He was so close, she didn't know how to respond. She tried to walk around him, he stepped in front of her. She tried the other way, only to meet the same action.

"Do you want another hit to the stomach?" She growled.

He grabbed her wrist and held them together.

A blush began to slightly creep over her face. What on earth was he doing touching her like this?

"Let go!" she demanded moving her arms in a weak attempt to break free. "I said let guuu-

He broke her yappering mouth with a kiss.

Her eyes stayed open in shock. Was Sasuke, _The _Sasuke Uchiha, The Avenger, The ex-missing nin, the sole heir to the sharingan kissing _her_? She called shenanigans and broke the one-way kiss, pulling her mouth away.

She looked at him panting, looking into his face trying to find an answer. "What the hell?" She gasped.

"That feisty attitude never dies down, does it?" He replied moving his bangs out of his face.

She said nothing for a long moment, only looking at him, still trying to find a hint of an answer from this mysterious boy. "Why did you…"

"You intrigue me." was all he said letting go of her wrists.

"Intrigue you?" She raised an eyebrow, what kind of answer was that?

"Your attitude, your skills and your lack of interest in me, it intrigues me."

"Not 'because you're gorgeous' or 'you're intelligent.' even a 'you have a sparkling personality'? Just because I don't stalk you like every other girl?" She asked astonished, was he saying what she thought he was saying?

"You have those qualities as well." he replied in a bored tone.

"Piss off, Uchiha." She said pushing past him and walking back to her home. She'd be damned if she were used because he wanted something he couldn't have.

Shikamaru was right, he was after something and that something was worse than she suspected. She felt stupid for even blushing at that kiss! That's it, no more nice girl from now on she's a block of ice! No one will ever make a fool of her like that again. Especially that Uchiha.

Sasuke didn't chase after her, the seed of interest in him had been planted. All he had to do was water it once in awhile, gives it lots of sunshine and watch her feelings grow…

* * *

_**A/N: Thanks for reading the third installment to this story! No need to worry Sasuke isn't telling her just yet she's "worthy" of him, like it says, he's planted a seed is all. Any guy out there that has experience with women knows that term "planting seeds" and no it doesn't mean the dirty "seed" it just means when a guy does something to peak a girl's interest where she can't stop thinking about him and he has to do little effort. How does a girl know this term? Easy, guys told me. (_ _)7**_


	4. Seed Planted

Chapter 4: Seed Planted

* * *

_I won't promise to be yours forever, _

_because I won't live that long._

* * *

"He took advantage of you?" Ino one should doubt Sasuke's skills, especially Temari. Being caught off guard was the worst thing that could happen to a shinobi in battle and it seemed in this case, love as well. She was foolishly caught off guard and not just in the spar they had, but that night he took advantage of her.

Temari only nodded sullenly.

"He…came onto you? Forcefully?" She sounded unsure.

Temari only nodded again, confining in her friend.

"Oh my…this is terrible…"

"I know," Temari hung her head low.

"Oh I can only imagine the trauma you're experiencing." Ino hugged Temari, rubbing her back.

"It's true…" She only agreed accepting her friend's embrace.

"Oh come off it, Temari!" Ino pushed her friend off her cutting the act. "You're making it sound so dramatic like he did more than kiss you!"

"A forced kiss can be quite traumatizing to a girl." Temari half defended her exaggerated claims.

"Please," Ino puffed up "if Sasuke kissed me well I…"

"Try it, I don't want him." Temari puffed up as well.

"I'm not gonna even think about it now, I've moved on from him, don't put ideas in my head!"

That statement somehow contradicted with her last one but Temari said nothing, it was useless arguing with her friend.

"Are you gonna tell Shikamaru?" Ino looked to the tan blonde, she knew this wasn't going to go down well with him. He admitted years ago that he didn't like Sasuke and the resent only seemed to have grown.

"Never. I'm just ignoring that Uchiha and hoping he'll go away."

'_Like that'll work…' _Ino thought to herself, but she knew it was useless arguing with her friend just like Temari thought it was useless arguing with her.

"I'll keep it a secret as long as that's all that happens." Ino said sternly. She maybe was a gossiper but also cared for her teammate. She didn't want to see him go and pick fights with any hot-headed Uchiha she knew he couldn't win against.

"Well, I gotta go do more paperwork, I'll catch you later." Temari said finally standing up from Ino's couch and making her way towards her door. "Thanks for the company and tea,"

"Make sure to come see me again before you leave!" Ino called out.

Temari nodded sullenly and left. She only had a few days left in Khonohagakure until she had to make her way back to Suna and report on her ambassador mission. She often wished she could just be stationed in the Land of Fire permanently so she wouldn't have to live two different lives with two different sets of friends and only one love-interest. Unfortunately that love interest was here in Konoha, the place she spent less time in than the other. When was that bastard going to make a move on her?

Walking along the often traveled path towards the hokage building she stumbled across ninja she knew or had seen many times. Being an ambassador for so long in this village she had come to know a lot of its shinobi and even a few villagers. She was beginning to love this place like a second home. She often had thoughts of living here. Her duty was always to her brother, the kazekage. But when she allowed her mind to wander to the farfetched she imagined herself having a life here.

The scenery, the food, the people, the clothes, the weather. Everything in Konoha was… happy. This nation had always been stereotyped as being too soft and kind. Which was true, but that's what gave it the special appeal that she liked. It reminded her of some people in her life. Of happier days when the government didn't control her life.

Almost to the hokage building she spotted a few genin running around hyper and ready to do D ranked missions. A few Anbu sitting nearby, not speaking, of course. Oh and there's Team 7 walking out of the building.

'_TEAM 7?' _Temari shouted in her head. The desperation was obvious on her face when she saw the Uchiha, Naruto, Sakura and their sensei Kakashi walking and chatting.

'_Don't acknowledge, don't acknowledge, Do. Not. Acknowledge.'_ Temari repeated to herself as she walked past the team, she wasn't sure if Sasuke was looking at her, she was way too busy trying not to look at him.

Temari exhaled, _'I think I got out of that one just fine.'_

"Hey! Temari-chan!"

'_Dear mother of Suna!' _Temari shouted at high volume in her head as the cheery Sakura came running up to her. Much to her dismay the rest of Team 7 stood and waited for her. Couldn't they be less cordial and walk away like her team?

"How long have you been in?" Sakura peered cheerfully.

"Oh well, you know, not long." Temari forced an obviously fake smile.

"Hey are you feeling well? Your face is all red." Sakura asked genuinely concerned. Being a medic-nin, it was her job to worry about people's health.

'_Hell no, I'm not!' _

"Yeah, just fine, must be sunburned is all." Temari continued the uncomfortable conversation.

"Oh okay, well if you're still here when I get back from my mission; heard Ino wanted you, her, me, Hinata and Tenten to get together and hang out."

"Oh my, sounds like lots of fun, can't wait!" This fake smile was causing cramps in her face.

Sakura gave her an odd look of concern but only waved "Okay, see you then!"

As Temari watched her go she couldn't help but see Sasuke in the distance not looking at her…Wait, what? That bastard forcefully kissed her, said she intrigued him and now he doesn't even look at her? Surely he hadn't gave up _that_ easy.

* * *

"What was that about, Sakura?" Naruto questioned his friend once she caught back up.

"Oh, just making plans with Temari." She hummed not really paying attention to the blond.

"Why is everybody so interested in Temari all of a sudden?" Naruto pouted. "What's next, you making plans with her too, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi ignored Naruto and continued reading, he took that as a no.

"Naruto what are you going on about?" Sakura looked over. "Who else is making plans with her?"

"Well Sas-oof"

Sasuke covered his mouth.

"Sasuke, you have plans with her?" Sakura questioned not really believing that.

"Of course not," Sasuke scoffed, "I don't even know the girl."

Sakura nodded, believing that.

"He's a liar!" Naruto defended his accusation. "He's been wanting to revive his clan and he wa-

Sasuke shut his mouth again in obvious agitation. Why did he discuss his clan revival with Naruto again? He really needed more friends…

Sakura shot Sasuke a suspicious look but said nothing. Even that comment caught Kakashi's interest but he too said nothing.

Sasuke sighed, this was going to be an awkward mission, and if he could get away with it, they'd lose a certain blond teammate on the way.

* * *

Temari sat at her desk and wondered, why wasn't Sasuke looking at her? He had followed her, sparred with her, came to her home, walked with her and even kissed her! And now he just treats her like before? You know, before they ever really spoke to each other…

'_Maybe when I told him to piss off he really listened.' _She thought neglecting her mountain high paperwork.

This perplexed her to no end, way more perplexing than even her seemingly requited relationship with Shikamaru.

The tedious paperwork about Kumogakure constantly left her mind and all she could see was Sasuke's face. Trying to make of what he did. She barely got any sleep last night at that very incident. She was hoping after her venting with Ino she could try and move on. But after that encounter she was all the more anxious at him.

After an hour of neglected work and thinking on this non-stop she finally figured it out, she thought. It took awhile but now she saw his game. Thanks to suddenly remembering the rantings of her more emotional yet more annoying brother, she thought she had a theory as to what he was getting at.

"He did that on purpose!" it hit her like a bolt of lightning. She knew this game, the game boys played, they made a move on you then ignored you, then made you think about them and finally _you_ would be the one to approach them and do the chasing.

"That Uchiha really is a genius." Temari smirked. "But not smarter than me, I figured out your game, now it's time for me to play a game of my own."

Despite reassuring herself of this she had to admit, his game had worked, she was the one thinking of him. And even long after she knew this was a game he was playing, it did make her interested.

"He must _really_ be intrigued to go to the brink of playing mind games with me." She sighed to herself and got started back on her paperwork but not without wondering on why this Uchiha had this Sand Kunoichi in mind.

* * *

Sasuke walked along the dirt road with his comrades, not really thinking on the mundane mission he was on. He was instead deep in thought of a certain Suna woman. The way she tried to avoid his gaze, her red face, peeking at him to see if he were peeking at her.

He only nodded to himself. Seed planting successful.

* * *

_**Critique and praise is greatly welcomed. I'd really love some feedback of how I'm doing, it really helps. Thanks!**_


	5. I'm No Seed!

_**Thanks to my loyal reviewers! Kudos to Crazy_Packers_Fan for the critique, I receive it so rarely I really cling to it when I do get it. XD And to AkatsukIxGirL for the hilarious review, I was thinking the same thing. I also can't forget Wolf_Master_Uchiha who threatens my life daily to update this story. ^_^ And to Frank The Tank aka Temari aka 2-feathers-and-a-stone for inspiring some scenes in this chapter! **_

* * *

Chapter 5: I'm No Seed!

* * *

_I want you to be everything that's you, _

_deep at the center of your being.  
_

* * *

"My last day here, might as well go out with a party." Temari smiled to herself satisfied.

She adjusted her hair and made a few final touches to her appearance before heading out the door to meet up with the Leaf Kunoichi. As Sakura had said, Ino really did want all of them to get together before she left. It had been so long since all had gotten together, this was probably the last time she'd see them all in a long time. So why not go out and have fun? Sure, she could be spending her last night with Shikamaru, but after the passive jerk he has been this time, she thought it'd teach him a lesson.

"The Green Beast of Karaoke?" Temari read the title aloud as she walked through the doors. "What kind of name is that for a karaoke bar?"

"Temari! You made it!" Ino smiled running up to her friend, she was dressed to impress, of course. "We're still waiting on a few people, come on, let's have a drink!"

"Sure," Temari smiled "But what's up with this place? I don't remember ever seeing it."

"Yeah, well Guy-sensei just opened it up, we're here to party _and _help keep his business afloat."

Temari tear-dropped, why would a ninja aspire to open up a karaoke bar? Oh wait, it was Might Guy…

Looking around it seemed there were a lot of ninja around here, probably all dragged here by the Green Beast himself. Temari took a mental note to ask Tenten when on earth had Might Guy ever decided to do something so silly…

"It actually gets pretty fun once Guy-sensei stops singing and other people get up there." Ino assured handing Temari a drink.

Temari, Ino, Hinata and Tenten sat around a table patiently waiting for Guy to get tired of singing _'Total Eclipse of The Heart' _and let some other people get a chance.

"While we're waiting on the inevitable, what's been up, Temari?" Tenten shouted over the noise of Guy's singing.

"Nothing much, just a lot of paperwork!" She shouted back.

"And A LOT of Sasuke!" Ino added.

Tenten, Hinata and Temari gasped.

"You're with S-Sasuke? I thought you were with Shikamaru." Hinata replied but felt bad for bringing it up.

"I'm not with Sasuke!" Temari shouted louder than she should have. She could have also added that she technically wasn't with Shikamaru either, they just liked each other for years and he refused to make a move. But she'll let that one slide.

"Oh please Temari, don't be ashamed, brag! Sasuke _kissed_ her and everything!" Ino bragged for Temari, earning an evil glance from the Sand Nin.

Hinata and Tenten gasped again. "No way, _The_ Sasuke Uchiha kissed you!" Tenten blurted out his name as though he were a god or something.

Temari only hung her head low toward her fruity alcoholic drink. "Afraid so…" She finally admitted.

"I had no idea he was interested in you." Ino now said, even she wasn't briefed on the whole thing.

"I didn't either until that happened." Was all Temari replied.

"Wait, back up, tell the whole story." Tenten said before she could continue on anymore.

"Okay, well, it started out when he wasn't looking where he was going then totally bumped into me like an idiot." Temari scowled remembering her hurt bum.

"Oh then he fell in love with you at first sight and asked you out! How sweet!" Ino smiled.

"No," Temari said plainly. "He stood up and asked me what clan I was from."

"That's an odd way to hit on someone." Tenten raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it was, but that was it. Next thing I knew he was at my office asking me to spar with him."

"Another weird move to put on a lady." Ino shook her head.

Actually, it sounded like a dream come true for Temari, nothing is hotter than beating up a pretty boy, but she wasn't about to say that. "Well we sparred and he beat me, but not before I hit him in the stomach and sent him flying!" This was the only part of the story that seemed to excite Temari in the least.

This earned a laugh from Hinata, but the other two were way more interested in details besides fighting.

"Then I left and went on a date with Shikamaru."

"How scandalous." Ino laughed. "I bet that pissed him off!"

"Well whatever it did for him, I don't care. All I know was I was ticked Shikamaru didn't kiss me goodnight after the date." She admitted not sure why she was willingly giving these girls the story.

"Yearning for love, you accepted Sasuke's night of passion when he came crawling into your room!" Ino squealed with perverse excitement.

"NOT AT ALL!" Temari looked at her blushing, this girl had potential to write erotic literature. "But he did show up at my house when Shikamaru left."

Getting bad thoughts in their head Tenten and Ino squealed in delight, Hinata only smiling sympathetically at her poor Sand friend.

"AND THEN." she interrupted their shouting "He asked me to take a walk with him."

"And that's when!-

"SHUT UP!" Temari yelled before Tenten could finish. "And that's when he was making stupid, casual conversation so I-

"So you…" Ino urged her to get to the good stuff.

"So. I. Told. Him. To cut out the casual crap and tell me what it was he wanted with me."

"I bet Sasuke likes feisty women." Tenten concluded to a nodding Ino. "I mean, you'd have to, to like a girl such as Temari."

Temari only took a deep breath, containing herself from repeating the Chunin Exams fight with Tenten.

"He wouldn't tell me what was up so I turned to leave." Temari said taking a drink.

"And that's when he grabbed your wrist and wouldn't let you go and kissed you!" Hinata added smiling.

Temari choked on her drink. "How'd you know?"

Tenten and Ino looked at Hinata for the answer.

"I was just…saying something that sounded romantic."

"Sounds like he really likes you." Ino smiled to Temari.

"Yeah well, I don't care, I have no interest in him." She sighed, stirring up what was left of her drink.

"Don't care about who? What did I miss?" Sakura smiled happily sitting down beside Temari.

"Uh, you know, boys! Saaand boys!" Ino laughed nervously. There was nothing more Ino would love to see than Sakura get torn up over Sasuke liking someone other than her. But she decided she wanted tonight to be pleasant and she'd save that for a time later when Sakura was pissing her off and Temari was far, far away.

"How was your mission?" Hinata asked Sakura, changing the conversation.

"Boring! As usual," Sakura said dully. "Wow, this place is…interesting. Is that Guy singing?" Sakura looked over her shoulder to Guy now singing _'Unbreak My Heart'._

"It's his joint so he says he gets first dibs on singing for the night. If I'm correct after he sings _'Love Can Build A Bridge'_ he'll be done for the night and we can all hear better songs." Tenten assured.

"At least he serves alcohol," Temari gulped down her last sip. "On that note, I need another drink, anybody want one?"

All the girls nodded, so Temari went to fetch everybody something so fruity and girly they couldn't taste the alcohol, that's the kind girls like, even Temari didn't like the strong taste of sake.

"Hey, can I get five- oh Lee, you're the bartender here?" Temari raised an eyebrow.

"Anything to support Guy-sensei's dream!" Lee said way more enthusiastically than he should have.

Why was her little brother friends with him again?

"Five of the girliest drinks you have." Temari smiled, she didn't know the name of specific alcoholic drinks, she just knew everybody wanted something sweet and fruity.

"Then you'll want the Plum Wine." A voice called beside her.

"Ino?"

"Five plum wines, please." Ino smiled to Lee. She watched him make his leave to retrieve the drinks and said her piece, "Make sure not to tell Sakura about the Sasuke thing, okay?"

Temari only gave a curious glance to her platinum blonde friend. "Isn't she over him?"

"For the most part, yeah, I think…" Ino looked down in thought. "But I don't know, I think a part of her still likes him as more of a friend, she doesn't really talk about it. But incase, just don't say anything."

Temari only nodded, you didn't have to tell her twice, she never wanted to talk about that kiss again.

"I'll forget it ever happened if you stop bragging on my behalf." Temari half laughed taking a few drinks in her hand.

Ino nodded and took the rest with her.

The night went off without a hitch. All the girls talked about everything Kunoichi talked about. Which was exactly what regular girls talk about just instead of "I was chilling at the mall then all of a sudden…" it was more along the lines of "I was on a mission then all of a sudden…"

All exchanged the issues with their love-lives. Hinata very quietly and very slowly but surely talked about her unrequited love with Naruto. Tenten shared the same issue as Hinata except with Neji and she was way more vocal about her love for him. Temari was up next to vividly complain about Shikamaru being "a passive jerk" that was her most common insult of him. What could Ino say? Her love life was great, she was pretty, popular and had tons of boyfriends…Except the fact that her crush was an emotionless artist who took no fancy to her womanly figure or sweet voice…Damn Root!

Sometime between being sober and calmly explaining their life's dilemmas it turned into all of them up on stage slobbering drunk singing _'It's Raining Men'_ anybody there would have explained to you it was way worse than Gai's singing but far more hilarious. Genma would have the footage to prove it too.

And sometime after that when all were kicked off stage; Tenten went missing to 'bribe' Genma for that footage back, Hinata went to sit in a dark corner to sober up before she embarrassed herself to death, while Temari, Sakura and Ino continued to be drunk out of their minds, dancing to some song that hardly had a beat you could dance to. Temari loved nights like this even if it did mean regretting it for the next three months. She sure was going out with a party!

Then everything slowly started going wrong…

"Ow you fat bitch, you stepped on my foot!" Ino yelled to her pink-headed friend and rival.

"Sorry, no pigs allowed on the dance floor." Sakura smiled dancing with an imaginary dance partner.

"You keep dancing with that pretend boyfriend, billboard brow, that's all you can get!"

"You don't even have that!" Sakura cooed back.

Sobering up a little Temari tried to calm her friends before this turned into a bar fight. "Come on girls, just dance and have fun."

"I don't need an imaginary dance partner, I have a real man!"

"Real men wear belly shirts and have no emotions? Pffft."

"Oh? What is a real man to you?" Ino's tone turned aggressive now. It was getting serious and it was obvious they didn't even hear Temari's pleas for a merry drunk time.

The two were bickering so loud and in each other's face, it all sounded like a different language to Temari. Then again Konoha accents were pretty thick.

Everything became clear and stand still when Temari heard Ino's slip of the tongue. Something was mentioned with her name. Something about her being Ino's new best friend? Sakura contorted back that Temari would never be friends with a pig such as herself. How the fight turned out to be over Temari, no one will know.

Then things got bad fast.

"Oh yeah? Well if she was such good friends with you, forehead girl, she would have told you that Sasuke kissed her! Ohhh-" Ino sobered up and covered her mouth.

She glanced at Sakura wide-eyed and then to Temari who had fire in her eyes.

If Ino and Temari's faces weren't so obvious Sakura would have laughed and said "nice try" but it was all too obvious.

"You…you…kissed…Sasuke?" Sakura looked her in the eyes now ignoring Ino.

Temari looked down, what should she do? Lie? Run for her dear life? Laugh? She chose just to stand there and say nothing like an invalid, not a good plan.

"Oh, how interesting." Sakura smiled sweetly.

Temari eased up, happy she wasn't going to be attacked but Ino didn't seemed convinced.

"Let's get a glass of water and sit down, I'm tired," Sakura sighed, seeming to come to full soberness.

The two blondes nodded and followed, but one blonde was weary while the other was obliviously at ease.

"Soooo, you and Sasuke are together?" Sakura asked calmly as though Temari were her patient.

"No, not at all." she answered back flatly.

"But you two kissed?"

"Well yeah, but-"

"So you're together,"

"No, I-"

"But you kissed,"

"Well yeah, but-"

"So you're together,"

"CUT IT OUT!" Ino interrupted. "**He **kissed **her** but she's not interested in him, are you Temari?"

Though Temari appreciated Ino was trying to rescue her, it was her damn fault she was in this mess in the first place. She nodded while drinking her water.

"I see," Sakura said taking a drink of her water. "it's about time he finds a girlfriend."

Temari's first instinct was to assure her that was the farthest thing from the case, but it seemed pointless at the moment. Hopefully next time she came to Konoha this would all be water under the bridge. But of course our little Suna Kunoichi wasn't so lucky.

The three sat in sober (and unhappy) silence.

"_At least the rest of the evening was fun." _Temari thought to herself staring in her glass of water. _"Too bad it didn't end with a bang."_

When Temari felt Ino squeeze her thigh she looked up at her. "Are you making moves on me?"

Ino just calmly stared in front of her, staring off in the distance.

That was hands-down the creepiest thing Ino has ever done. She complied staring in the same direction as her friend.

"Oh holy mother of Suna!" Temari shouted.

"What? What is it?" Sakura stared at the two across from her.

"Oh nothing, I was just… stroking Temari's sexy thigh. Mmmm." Ino smiled sweetly rubbing Temari's leg.

"What. The. Fuck. Ino…" Sakura went back to staring at her glass as though she were telling the future with it.

Temari elbowed Ino's ribs, was that really the best thing she could come up with? She was never going to the hot springs with her again if she kept making gay passes like this. Gay best friends was the least of her problems at the moment though, especially when Sasuke Uchiha just walked in with a group of friends.

"_Keep your calm Temari, he won't do anything. Especially around a group of friends. You told him to 'piss off' he got the hint, right? He wouldn't dare make a scene here. He's already forgot all about you and moved onto someone else."_

His movements seemed to slow down to slow-mo as she watched him walk through the karaoke bar and not once look in her direction. But when you're surrounded by loud-mouth Kiba, Naruto, and Chouji how could you possibly notice anything else? Well either way he wasn't looking at her and that's all that mattered.

Finally allowing herself to breath she exhaled deep, appreciating the air leaving her lungs. She sucked it all back in within .1 of a second as she looked up and saw the dreaded duck-butt boy looking at her.

Eager to escape his gaze the only way was down. She slammed her head down on the table but forgot there was a freaking glass of water in front of her.

"Look at her! She's so eager to get away from you she'd rather break a cup with her face! Leave her alone, Sasuke!" She could hear Naruto shout a distance away.

If she weren't so mortified she would have thanked him for such a statement.

Temari didn't look up, keeping her face in the puddle of water, possibly hoping to drown at the moment. She didn't even look up when she heard Ino and Sakura talking. What they were saying, she had no idea and didn't care, only wishing for this night to be over and for her to be back in Suna. Things tended to be less crazy in her hometown. Less fun and less awesome but indeed less crazy. The stereotype that Suna people were hot-headed was said by people who had never met a person from Konoha, obviously.

"Temari, are you okay?" She heard Ino's concerned voice beside her.

"Yeah, cloud nine." Temari gurgled through the water puddle now sweeping into her lap.

"Come on, get up, I'm sure you want to go home." Ino ushered her friend up and out of the booth.

Temari stood up obliging to her friend, she was ready to go to her little temporary home, take a bath, get rest, wake up and go back home to her two demon brothers that awaited her. Now that she thought about it, Shikamaru being a passive jerk didn't sound so bad after all. After the shape of a cup left her forehead she decided she should go see him before she left…

The two began to walk towards the door, both making sure to ignore the direction Sasuke was in. As much as she'd like to say she'd rather break her face with a cup than see him…she didn't want anybody seeing the results of the after math.

"Oh look! Sasuke is here!"

Temari and Ino turned towards Sakura who was now out of her trance and acting like she was 12 years old again.

"What the…" Temari watched Sakura prance in the direction of Sasuke.

"Didn't you hear us talking? Turns out that forehead girl had vodka and not water."

"Fuck," was all Temari said. Sakura wasn't the best drunk. She wasn't **Lee **type drunk, destroying a whole bar within seconds but she wasn't far from it when she was under emotional stress. Temari thought finding out her life-long crush was kissing some foreign girl would classify as such stress.

"We better go fast." Ino grabbed onto Temari. If Ino didn't want to see what was about to happen, you know it had to be bad.

"Temari! Temari! Where you going? Come back, Sasuke's here, come say hi to him."

"Don't listen Temari, keep walking." Ino ushered her out the door.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Temari sighed walking alongside her friend.

"Temari! Where you going?"

"Dear god, she's following us outside." Temari looked to Ino for help. "Surely her **best friend **will know how to take care of this."

"I sure do!" Ino nodded to eagerly. "GET BACK INSIDE YOU FAT COW!"

"Really Ino? REALLY?" Temari sighed.

"GO BACK TO THE MOUNTAIN YOU BOAR!" Sakura shouted back. "Come on back inside, Temari!" Sakura hummed sweetly dragging Temari along back inside.

Temari looked back to Ino pleadingly who looked back at her in confusion and followed closely behind the two.

"Okay Temari, here's Sasuke, why were you running away?" Sakura hummed pushing her towards the group of boys.

Our heroine's first thought was to turn around and run far, far away. But with Sakura's grasp on her and the aura that Uchiha kid gave off she couldn't turn away. Even though her mind said go her body said no. He was standing there, staring straight at her. Looking into his dark eyes staring back at her, he was a beautiful man. His gaze, his eyes, you could never tell what he was thinking, he was so mysterious…She couldn't look away. His hair, his eyes, his skin, his…

"Oh my god look! She totally has a cup mark on her face you were right, Naruto!" Kiba's roaring laugh broke the trance and Temari went back to mortified with a dash of pissed off.

"Yeah, she was so shy seeing her boyfriend!" Sakura giggled pushing Temari forward.

"_Damn, shouldn't have worn heels tonight." _That was the last time she took fashion tips from Ino. The heels mixed with the sleek dancing floor did not work well for gaining traction. It didn't help a vodka smelling piece of bubblegum was pushing her around into the direction of an even scarier sight.

A slip on something wet and she fell forward. She could have definitely recovered quickly, she was a kunoichi. If you threw her into a volcano with steel boots on she could have regained her composure in time to save herself. But even so she felt a callused hand grab her forearm and make sure she didn't fall.

"I didn't expect you to be pushed around this much."

Her breath hitched not for the first time because of him. If only it were the good kind too. But no, this was out of sheer anxiety being around him. This boy, ever since he bumped into her that day has caused her too much trouble.

"I could have caught myself, thanks." Temari jumped out of Sasuke's grasp around her arms. She couldn't have caught herself, but she would have rather fell.

"Oh look at you two, you look so cute together," Sakura slurred a drunk smile. "so happy…for you…both…"

"She is **wasted**." Kiba smirked.

Sakura was **so **wasted even Temari and Sasuke watched her in question, forgetting about the previous incident.

"Oh look at the happy couple standing so close together, so cute..."

Temari noticed she was still close enough to Sasuke to feel his breath, she uncomfortably shifted away and towards Ino.

"I would like to make a toast…a toast…to the happy couple…"

"Hey you wide-load stop wasting everybody's time and go pass out somewhere!"

"Why don't you SHUTUP Ino, I'm trying to talk!"

At that moment something happened. Sakura threw her drink and Ino dodged. All Temari knew was she tasted a bitter awful sensation on her face and dripping down her clothes. It didn't help she was already soaked from her own mishap from a drink.

"Oh Temari-chan, I'm sorry!" Sakura flung herself at Temari.

"I think we'll take her home." Naruto sighed grabbing onto his sloshed teammate.

"Let me get you a towel, Temari, I'm sorry." Ino rushed away to the bar to get something for her friend.

"A passive jerk sounds like nirvana about now." Temari sighed to herself, wiping the drink away from her face with her hands.

"Oh really? Not a nice shower or a clean dress?"

"I wasn't talking to you." Temari snapped at the raven haired boy.

"How conceited of me to think you were talking to the only person still here." Sasuke handed her a white tissue.

Temari glanced in question at the Uchiha symbol on it before accepting it. "Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

"Does it anybody?"

Even though he was the reason of her discomfort she felt his chakra was calm and relaxed. He rarely seemed to have any change in it. If she could tell he was at ease he probably could tell she was livid at this whole night.

"Temari."

She recognized that voice. That emotionless, lazy voice.

"Shikamaru?"

Without ever taking a second glance at Sasuke Temari was to the door and wrapped in speaking to the lazy genius.

Sasuke watched Temari walk away with him eagerly and even forgot to return his tissue.

"Hey I think we should take Sakura home now." Naruto walked up with Sakura's arm around his neck for support. "Where'd your girlfriend go?"

"Shikamaru is a threat."


End file.
